Big Brother Brasil is the Brazilian version of the popular reality franchise Big Brother.
How it Works[]
Overview[]
Big Brother is a reality television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually 12-22 participants. The housemates try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic evictions from the house.
The Brazilian Series[]
The Brazilian version of Big Brother follows elements from both the original Big Brother version and the North American version. The series combines public interaction gameplay seen on many international versions while adding most of American version's gameplay alongside it. Among the elements that the series shares with its American counterpart include the Líder (Head of Household), Paredão (Nomination Block) and Anjo (Power of Veto).
Prova do Líder[]
Prova do Líder (eng. Leader Competition) is the Brazilian version of the Head of Household. Every week, the housemates compete in the Prova do Lider wherein the winner of the challenge would be named as the Líder and would gain a power to select one housemate to become a nominee.
Just like the HoH, the Lider will be given various perks throughout the week. These perks include special access to the Lider's own private suite, receiving photos or gifts from home, and having a maid service.
Nominations[]
For the Brazilian's nomination process, the Líder gains the responsibility to choose one nominee. However, alongside his choice, the rest of the house must select other nominees that would complete the Paredão (nomination block), usually one or more nominees. On every nomination night, the housemates go to the Diary Room individually to cast their nomination vote, and the housemates with the two highest votes will join the Lider's nominee on facing the public vote.
Power of Immunity[]
Since Big Brother Brazil 3, a weekly immunity challenge called Prova do Anjo takes place in the house, wherein the winner gains a power to bestow immunity to either a fellow housemate or themselves. The immunity recepient will be saved from nominations. If ever the POI winner gives an immunity to another housemate of his choice instead of himself/herself, the POI winner remains eligible for being nominated by the Lider and the House.
Big Phone[]
Since Big Brother Brazil 8, Big Fone or Big Phone twist has appeared in many of the succeeding seasons and became a recurring element of the series. A special telephone is placed at the garden area of the house and will ring randomly throughout the season. The housemates must take the call, and the housemate who would take the call will receive a special message from Big Brother, either a punishment or a reward. The message will take effect within the week only.
Twists[]
Aside from the main gameplay of the series, other twists have also appeared in the show, affecting certain aspects of the format such as the casting, gameplay, and social dynamics in the house.
Food Challenge and Estalecas[]
During the first four season, the housemates used to compete in food competitions to receive the week's groceries. However, starting with Big Brother Brazil 5, a special currency called estaleca (Z$), which could be earned in the weekly food challenges and could be used to buy the week's food, has been introduced in the house and has been in use in seasons onwards, with the winner of the challenge have the responsibility to control the house's shopping budget and choose which groceries the house should buy for the upcoming week. During all of it subsequent appearances, in some unforeseen cases, the value of the estaleca currency may inflate or deflate.
Starting with Big Brother Brazil 8, a Have and Have-Not system was introduced, with the Haves called "Luxo", which means "Luxury", and the Have-Nots called "Xepa", which is Brazilian slang for food left over in the streets markets. Every Food Challenge had the HoH or a luck draw divide the house in two groups to compete and the winner group, the one to amount the most estalecas in the challenge, would be the Luxo, while the loser one would be the Xepa. Both groups had different kitchens and dining rooms, and sometimes bedrooms too, and the Xepa had a smaller amount and variety of food available, which depended on the season but was usually rice, beans, a randomly choose protein and goiabada.
With Big Brother Brazil 19, the Food Challenge is now extinct and, exclusively for the season, a different system was in place: estalecas were discounted if the contestants broke minor house rules. Every contestant in the house was automatically a Have, called "Tá com Tudo", which means "Has it All", and only if the total amounts of estalecas in the house goes below a treshold or if the house went above the maximum amount of water's consumption limit that they would all be switched over to Have-Nots, called "Tá com Nada", which means "Has Nothing" and would have their food options' limited.
The system was them changed again Big Brother Brazil 20, the HoH is now tasked with choosing a set amount of people to be Haves, which are now renamed "VIP", while everyone else is automatically a Have-Not, which retains the name "Xepa" from the previous seasons. Estalecas are now gained by participating on competitions, the house dynamics and from doing daily confessional sessions and is lost from being punished by the PoI, from sporadic twists or from breaking minor house rules. Each side of the house is asked to contribute with a amount of estalecas of their choosing, and each groups get a total from the sum of each housemate's contribution, which is them used to buy food. VIP gets access to cheaper and higher quality food while Xepa has less choices which are more expensive and of lesser quality. The daily water consumption limit is still in place, however, and reaching the maximum limit will send the whole house to the Tá com Nada state for the rest of the week, and everyone will be limited to eating rice, beans and goiabada regardless if they were VIP or Xepa as a punishment.
This current dynamic has been unchanged and ongoing ever since it's debut.
Eviction[]
Every week after the final set of nominees have been named, voting lines will open for the public to vote to evict one of the nominees. The nominee with the highest eviction vote percentage will be evicted out of the house. This eviction process continues until the final eviction night.
Live Final[]
In the series, only the final three (final two in early seasons) will be eligible to continue in the finale night wherein the viewers have the power to elect the winner of the season via Vote to Win process. The housemate who gained the highest amount of public votes will be declared the winner and will be welcomed by a cheering crowd along with his/her runner-ups. After Big Brother Brazil 20, however, the cheering crowd was retired over concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic and hasn't returned since.
Big Brother House[]
Main Article: Big Brother House/Brazil
Editions[]
Trivia[]
- Big Brother Brazil is the first non-English speaking franchise and the first franchise outside the North American region to adopt elements from the North American version of Big Brother. However, the franchise does not strictly follow the North American format, as the Brazilian series combines it with gameplay from the original Big Brother format, most notably the viewer voting aspect of the original format, which has been removed in the North American version since Big Brother 2 (US).
- Big Brother Brazil 20 was the first series to cast celebrity contestants.
- Big Brother Brazil is the third franchise to feature a season with a mixed set of cast.
- There have been 12 women and 12 men who have won Big Brother Brazil.
References[]
| Big Brother Franchises | ||
|---|---|---|
| Africa | Africa (Secret) · Angola · Cameroon · Liberia · Nigeria · South Africa | |
| Americas | Argentina · Brazil · Canada (Quebec) · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Mexico · Pacific · Panama · Peru · United States (Spanish) | |
| Asia-Pacific | Arab States · Australia · China · India · Indonesia · Israel · Mongolia · Pakistan · Philippines · Thailand · Vietnam · Turkey | |
| Europe | Albania · Balkans · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Czechia · Denmark · Finland · France (Loft) · Germany · Greece · Hungary (Való Világ) · Italy · Kosovo · Lithuania · Malta · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal (Secret) · Romania · Russia · Scandinavia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain (Secret)· Sweden · Switzerland · Ukraine · United Kingdom | |
| Virtual | Second Life | |